International travelers spend record-breaking totals in U.S.

International visitors spent a record-breaking $168.1 billion on U.S. travel and tourism-related goods and services in 2012, an increase of more than 10 percent when compared with 2011.

On average, international visitors injected nearly $1.3 billion more a month into the U.S. economy than they did the previous year, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.

Americans spent nearly $118.1 billion traveling abroad last year, up 8 percent from 2011, resulting in a $50 billion trade surplus for travel and tourism for 2012. That’s a 16 percent more favorable balance of trade than 2011 and the largest trade gap in history for U.S. travel and tourism.

Also, U.S. citizen outbound travel was up 3 percent in March.

A total of 5.1 million people traveled outside the country during March, while year-to-date, 13.2 million people have gone outside the United States. Year-to-date U.S. citizen international travel is flat, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries.